Perfection To A Fault: A Small Murder in Ossipee, New Hampshire, 1916

by Janice S. C. Petrie

Overview

This second printing of "Perfection To A Fault" is the exact same story that was so favorably reviewed by Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, among others. A new cover design and a much requested Photo Gallery were added, as the 100th anniversary of the story approaches.

Voted "Best in New Hampshire" by New Hampshire Magazine and was a featured segment on WCVB-TV Boston's Chronicle.

"Petrie vividly re-creates the circumstances and aftermath of an early 20th-century murder in this true-crime book. Exhaustive detail and flawless re-creations make for real suspense in this nonfiction tale." - Kirkus Reviews

"Petrie expertly puts details into historical context and annotates each chapter with newspaper and court documentation. Written in 2000 but even more intriguing as the 100th anniversary of the crime approaches, this thorough account will appeal to fans of true crime."- Publisher's Weekly

This book is the non-fiction account of the events which encompassed a murder and trial at the turn of the century in Ossipee, New Hampshire. When Florence Small's smoldering body rose to the surface of the basement water, local folks immediately suspected her husband of the crime. Frederick Small was an outsider, a Boston man, who had moved to Ossipee Lake to semi-retire. There was a deep distrust of "city fellas up there behind the Ossipees," in 1916 and perhaps this suspicion was warranted. But how could Frederick have been responsible for a murder and a fire that happened 7 hours after he had left for Boston on a business trip? The sensational trial that followed was unlike any previously experienced in Carroll County. And although everybody from the Boston area to Portland, Maine, had an opinion, nobody anticipated the decision the jury would reach. The unrest on the ill-fated property remained even in 1956, when Anna Foley's unsuspecting son and daughter-in-law felt the effects of the events of 1916 one August night while vacationing on the property.

The Manchester Leader and Evening Union newspaper wrote in anticipation of a verdict, "If the state has proved its case, it has developed a new type of New Hampshire criminal. It has brought forth a cool, daring, mechanical and chemical genius, a man who scorned the ordinary forms of murder but who brought forth to the mountains of this quiet village a science which would baffle a Craig Kennedy or Sherlock Holmes. The jury of his peers will decide whether Frederick L. Small is that man or the normal individual who has been made a victim of circumstances and is being tried for a crime which he never committed and of which he had no knowledge."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780970551009
Publisher:	SeaTales Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/01/2000
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Janice S. C. Petrie has been enchanted by the sea for as long as she can remember. She became a certified SCUBA diver while in high school, and spent many years exploring coastal waters. Her fascination with marine invertebrates grew while working for the New England Aquarium as an Outreach Specialist. Since then, she's spent years caring for these fascinating sea animals, and teaching children and adults about the habitats and sea life commonly found near the shore. The material covered in her children's stories are topics commonly taught by Petrie in her popular sea animal programs. Petrie has experience in all facets of the sea, having worked as an assistant plant manager of a large, Gloucester/Boston seafood company.

In her free time, Petrie made many trips to the Ossipee, New Hampshire area to visit with the Ossipee Historical Society, the Carroll County Courthouse, and the Concord State Library, trying to piece together the events of 1916 that kept everyone mesmerized while the tragic story was unfolding, yet was seldom mentioned years later. She gained interest in this story after learning the cottage she spent a single night vacationing in as a baby, seemed to be occupied by an unsettling presence.

As a certified teacher, grades K-8, and a Reading Specialist, all ages, Petrie has earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees in the field of education, with a concentration in reading. Petrie also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art, with a graphic design concentration. Because of her background in developing integrated curriculum units for elementary and middle schools, Petrie has available on her website, free, downloadable curriculum packets for each of her children's books.

Table of Contents

1. Presence

2. The Tragedy

3. The Murder

4. Circumstances

5. Discoveries

6. The Romance

7. The Crime

8. The Trial

9. In Defense

10. Questions and Resolutions

11. Epilogue

12. Photo Gallery

What People are Saying About This

Barry Hill

I can honestly say that Janice has done a wonderful job, and historically accurate, in portraying the persons and events...a fascinating case, and Janice had an unusual and somewhat eerie connection to the story. It is riveting and suspenseful... --Barry Hill President of the Ossipee Historical Society

Editorial Reviews

03/07/2016
Children’s book author Petrie’s crisp, quick-moving true crime account details the gruesome 1916 murder of Florence Arlene Small at the house she shared with her abusive husband, Frederick Small, in Carroll County, N.H. The victim’s body was found shot, bludgeoned, and strangled in shallow basement water after a fire burned down the primary structure of the Smalls’ Ossipee Lake cottage. Petrie starts the book in 1955 with her own link to the case (as a child she spent a night in the restored cottage where the murder took place), then goes back to Florence’s last day of life. She also examines the court record to provide a diligent account of the trial to convict Frederick for premeditated murder. Evidence against Frederick mounted: his manipulative past; the inventory of what he took with him to Boston after the murder, including a traveling satchel with the house deed; pieces of a timed incendiary device; proof of a recent purchase of kerosene; and a new life insurance policy on Florence. Petrie (Something’s Tugging on My Claw!) expertly puts details into historical context and annotates each chapter with newspaper and court documentation. Written in 2000 but even more intriguing as the 100th anniversary of the crime approaches, this thorough account will appeal to fans of true crime, especially those familiar with New England. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly

This is not a dry historical report but a riveting drama that any mystery lover will appreciate. (December 7, 2000)

Tri-Town Transcript - Carol Cujec

Petrie decided to research the source of the haunting. The result is an engaging ghost story, murder mystery, courtroom drama. (July, 2001- Best of New Hampshire Issue)

New Hampshire Magazine - Rebecca Rule

Petrie's account of the sensational trial and legacy are well told. Nobody writes about a haunting with more chilling effect...(Maine Sunday Telegram, May 6, 2001)

Portland Herald Press - John Robinson

2015-10-02
Petrie (Did You Make the Hole in the Shell in the Sea?, 2013, etc.) vividly re-creates the circumstances and aftermath of an early 20th-century murder in this true-crime book. A cottage on the shore of New Hampshire's Lake Ossipee seems an unlikely location for a grisly murder, but Petrie notes that there might have been "an unrest on that piece of property that wouldn't disappear with the passage of time." She cleverly opens not with the crime itself but with new owners arriving in 1955. Sensing an unearthly chill as they entered the cottage, they never returned to the place alone after their first visit and quickly sold it. Everyone in the gossipy community knew that Florence Small had died in a suspicious house fire on September 28, 1916; her husband, Frederick, was convicted of her murder and hanged. As Petrie chronicles that momentous day as well as Small's trial and sentencing, she enlivens her story with excellent dialogue and scene-setting. She discusses the case in great detail, often drawing on newspaper stories, but the facts never become too overwhelming for readers. On the day in question, Petrie writes, Small and a friend traveled to Boston to broker insurance sales; that evening, he received a message that his home had burned down with Florence inside. Small acted suitably distraught, but the next day, the circumstances looked too perfect. His satchel contained important documents one wouldn't want to lose in a fire; he'd taken out a large joint life insurance policy; and he had a history of domestic violence. By gradually revealing these salient pieces of background information, Petrie's pacey prose puts readers in the same position as the investigators. It's intriguing to learn how advanced forensic science was at the time: from Florence's stomach contents, for example, experts could pinpoint the hour of her death, and investigators eventually determined that Small could have used a timed incendiary device to start the fire in his absence. Exhaustive detail and flawless re-creations make for real suspense in this nonfiction tale.

Kirkus Reviews

“Petrie expertly puts details into historical context and annotates each chapter with newspaper and court documentation. Written in 2000 but even more intriguing as the 100th anniversary of the crime approaches, this thorough account will appeal to fans of true crime.”- Publisher’s Weekly

"Petrie vividly re-creates the circumstances and aftermath of an early 20th-century murder in this true-crime book. Exhaustive detail and flawless re-creations make for real suspense in this nonfiction tale." - Kirkus Reviews

Voted "Best in New Hampshire" by New Hampshire Magazine and was a featured segment on WCVB-TV Boston's Chronicle.

"...I can honestly say that Janice has done a wonderful job, and historically accurate, in portraying the persons and events..." -- Barry Hill - President of the Ossipee Historical Society

"...a fascinating case, and Janice had an unusual and somewhat eerie connection to the story...it is riveting and suspenseful..." -- Ossipee Historical Society, Summer 2000 Newsletter

"Petrie decided to research the source of the haunting. The result is an engaging ghost story, murder mystery, courtroom drama." --New Hampshire Magazine, July, 2001 Rebecca Rule- Best of New Hampshire Issue

"Petrie's account of the sensational trial and legacy are well told. Nobody writes about a haunting with more chilling effect..." John Robinson, Portland Herald Press, Maine Sunday Telegram, May 6, 2001

From the Publisher